Post Seminar Reflection

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

The demographics of my high school urge me to bring a greater Asian perspective in literature to my classroom. Where I teach – two blocks from Los Angeles’ Chinatown -- 19% of the 1051 students are designated in our “school profile” as Asian and 64% are Latino. But, until I took the USCI/NCTA Spring 2012 Seminar, I didn’t have a context to help all my students see how the Asian philosophies have such a dramatic impact worldwide. Although part of my school’s mission statement is to create “responsible and globally aware leaders,” I’ve been thinking “multi-cultural” not “international”. The seminar gave me a new understanding that the multi-cultural texts we teach are not truly offering a global perspective. All of the excepts and short stories are about cultures in the United States, that are adapting, assimilating or resisting and reflecting. But, instead of just reading about the immigrant’s journey, my students should also be reading translated text of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese authors.
The daily newspaper reminds us that China’s growth impacts U.S jobs and the economy. While China is eager for Western expertise and collaboration, their government carefully regulates the involvement of capitalistic companies in their country. China crimps companies’ expansion into their valuable markets. For example, “China orders firms to localize: the Big Four must appoint Chinese citizens to head their mainland operations.” reports the Los Angeles Times. Some high school students could be the future employees of Big Four consulting/accounting firms, and some one may be assigned to a foreign office in Beijing, China or Seoul, Korea. If in high school, my student discusses a short story about post-modern angst of young people in Korea -- “Whatever Happened to the Guy Stuck in the Elevator?” by Kim Young-Ha – who knows? --- s/he could start having a consciousness about Asia.
The USCI/NCTA Spring 2012 Seminar has opened my eyes to resources in the community and on the Internet that I can use to bring Asian into the classroom. For example, at the nctasia.org site I see a summer institute listing of literature by Asian authors that I can explore . And, the research for my curriculum project sent me to local Los Angeles museums where Asia’s artists are discussed and exhibited. Also, it is not really necessary to carry on independently because the USC US China Institute webpage has so many offerings in lesson plans and commentary. Little by little, we are sharing and becoming informed members of the world community.

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